Two Ws for Softball Today
Two big wins for the softball team today, as our ladies pounded a Georgia Tech squad that is struggling to stay above .500 by a score of 6-1, and then turning right around and crushing a top-10 Texas A&M squad 9-2, handing the #9 Aggies their first loss of the season.
Driesenga shined in the circle again, dishing out a staggering 25 Ks on the day, including 15 against the Georgia Tech batters who clearly had no idea what to do with her stuff. Bear in mind that, in a 7-inning game, there are only 21 outs to be had, and Sara got 15 of those by way of the K!
Freshman Sierra Romero continues to impress as well, crossing home twice in both games, including a home run against the Aggies.
The team takes the field tomorrow for two more non-conference matchups, including a 4:45 pm date with #11 LSU.
OMG South Best Wolverine is MGoSoftball
BUSTED!
for watching my back. I had to pull an all nighter yesterday preparing for a HUGE $8 million presentation to GM. I was watching the games on the GT. My Executive Director is a Wiskey Grad as is the owner of my company. He was looking over my shoulder and saw Sara's pic and said she was hot. (He thought I had something shady going on).
So I felt obligated to show him GT and the post that I had started. I told him about the blog and he asked me if I needed a break for 30 minutes to finish my post. I declined and said lets move on as it was well past midnight and I live an hour from work.
Anyway, my post was going to say the first game vs GT was done the old fashioned way. It was done by everyone getting into the action. We ended up with 11 hits. I think everyone was in on the scoring. Now that is M Softball.
The second game was even more exciting and closer. Sara has really set herself up for B1G Player of the Year if she keeps this up. Texas A&M (#9) is a very good team. They came on last year fairly strong. Sara had 25Ks which is almost impossible in D1. That is definately a 2 sigma (top 5 percentile) performance.
No SBW and I are not one in the same. We both just love SB very much. Alton, Brew Mom, Plinly Elder, Blue Dragon, Smashmouth and Justin & Megan Goblue all contribute to M SB Posts. There are others too but Im working on 4 hours sleep.
Also, M SB jumped 1 spot to #14 in this weeks poll.
not posted by MGoSoftball! Pretty cool. Great work ladies, and, as always, Go Blue!
MGoSoftball is definitely the leading light of the softball fan faction here on MGoBlog, but I always make sure to stick my head in when I can. I checked & re-checked the boards a few times to make sure I hadn't missed the post, since I wouldn't want to double. :)
Driesenga's progress this season has been just plain outstanding - almost at the level of freshman Denard to sophomore Denard or Darius Morris to Darius "Stop calling me the butterfly" Morris. Last year she was a decent pitcher, but very much took the back seat to Wagner, who had arguably the best freshman campaign in UM history in the circle. Now Sara is mowing them down on one side, and lighting up the scoreboard offensively as well (which is where she made most of her contributions last season).
These two games were a great showcase of the progress she's made. To get 25 Ks over the course of the 42 total outs available on the day is ridiculous. Hopefully she can keep it rolling on Saturday!
Yeah, I'm definitely not surprised that Driesenga is making strides. She was a very highly touted recruit coming out of HS, so when you combine that with the excellent coaching that she is getting under Hutch's staff, it was just a matter of time before she started living up to her potential. The amazing thing to contemplate is that she & Haylie are both just sophomores - we still have two & a half years of this dynamic duo! Opposing batters had best settle in for a long, hard slog for the forseeable future.
Hutch also has Stephanie Speierman on the bench. Two years ago, as a sophomore, Stephanie started 25 games, and was 18-1, with 1.88 ERA and 109K's.
Sara pitch in summer ball once. I thought she was probably the best HS pitcher in the nation. She has everything going for her: she is tall, and can grip the ball (grip means everything to a pitcher).
Then as an added bonus, she could play just about any defensive position and bat over .600 while leading the team in HRs. She is the softball equivilent of Bo Jackson.
Sara had only 68 Ks last year, she is already at 88. She has certainly made some adjustments in the off season.
When Haylie comes back....LOOK OUT. We will have the best 1-2 combo in the nation. SB does not really have the equivilent of a QB controversy. Haylie is a lefty so Coach Hutch has 2 - #1 pitchers and will use them both accordingly. This year is shaping up to be a fun year. Get your reservations now for Oklahoma. I will today.
I know I've said this before, but I just can't get over the fact that we have 2.5 more full years of these ladies killing it in the circle, not to mention what they (especially Driesenga) bring on the offensive side. Lots of fun times are ahead of us in this sport.
Driesenga allowed 1.39 baserunners per inning last year, this year it's 0.93. For the stats that don't depend on the defense behind her, last year she struck out 63 and allowed 49 walks (including hit batters) and 8 home runs, this year in about 2/3 as many innings she has 88 K, 19 BB+HBP, and 1 HR. Her stats this year are better than Wagner's last year in every dimension.
"Her stats this year are better than Wagner's last year in every dimension."
Considering what a dominant campaign Wagner put together last year, that is truly, truly impressive. Now I really can't wait to see what improvement Wagner has made in the offseason. Once she's back from injury, our pitching will be downright horrifying.
Today was an amazing day for Michigan all around
- Leading the B1G Championship meet on Day 3/4 in Men's Swimming
- W Tennis upsets #2 Duke
- Hockey beats up ferris state
- Softball sweeps
- Baseball wins an 8-7 thriller and Pat Biondi breaks the career record for steals.
I stumbled on this while searching for basketball recruiting info—Penfield pitcher Leah Crockett gives verbal commitment to Michigan. Item from about a week ago, for those who missed it.
Why isnt she pitching?
and has been on the bench thus far. Sara has been carrying the load this season with Stephanie and Alice helping out.